Mumbai: In her sixties, Mayarani Das still vividly remembers the days when her daughter-in-law Pori Bora, now Indrani Mukerjea, used to verbally abuse her at their small house in scenic Shillong. Mother of Indrani’s first husband, Siddhartha Das, Mayarani presently lives in a nondescript house at Banamali Road in Karimganj of Assam. Living with her another son, Shantanu Das, life of Mayarani so far had been peaceful and without much twists and turns until last week when she watched on an Assamese news channel photographs of Pori and her first grand daughter, Sheena. Suddenly things changed for her and she is now plunged into deep shock and sorrow. After all, she liked Sheena all the first three years when Pori and Siddhartha’s daughter lived with her.
“It is shocking, why did she do it? I have grown very old and not keeping well these days. Talking about this old episode which got over around 20 years back will not bring back anything in my life except deep sorrow and pain,” she told Free Press Journal from Karimganj over phone. If Mayarani’s words are any indication, her son Siddhartha Shankar Das is father of Sheena and Mikhail Bora. “Do not drag me into this. She left us long back and now my son too got married again, living away from me in Kolkata,” she said, sobbing. Siddhartha’s voter’s identification card DML1506349, a copy of which is in possession of this newspaper, still shows his permanent address at Banamali Road in Karimganj.
“Yes, Mikhail and Sheena were my brother’s children and Pori took them along when she left home after almost three years of marriage with Siddharth. We did not keep any relation with her further and also with her children,” said Shantanu Das, brother of Siddhartha over phone. Interestingly, though Siddhartha’s mother and brother claim Sheena was part of their family and Siddharth being the father, the voter’s identification card of Mikhail, a copy of which is in the possession of Free Press Journal, reveals his father is Upendra Kumar Vora. The EPIC card bearing no LQZ2253512 was updated this year only in the record of Kamrup district election commissioner’s office. “I do not know why Pori had mentioned someone’s name as Mikhail’s father. Why do not you go and ask her only,” said Shantanu, also upset since he got to know about alleged brutal killing of his niece. “We are not in touch with anyone and not even with my brother. Please don’t bother us anymore on this case,” he snapped while ending the conversation.
However, there is no record available in the Kamrup district election commission for Sheena Bora or Pori Bora. “The Das family is also like a jigsaw puzzle where some members got into multiple legal and illegal wedlocks. Seems the maze of relationships is just not confined to the Boras or Mukerjeas but also with the Das’s here,” said a local at Karimganj, requesting anonymity. Even Siddhartha’s father Sitangshu had deserted his wife Mayarani and children to get married with someone else and settle elsewhere. Sources say, Indrani alias Pori had lived with Siddhartha in Shillong for around three years when she got into loggerheads with both her mother-in-law and husband.
